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Royal baby wait is over as Kate and William show off second childhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/duchess-of-cambridge-gives-birth-to-royal-baby-girl-760106
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LONDON — Prince William and his duchess, Kate Middleton, introduced their new princess to the world just 10 hours after she was born on Saturday.

To loud cheers, the newest and as yet unnamed princess appeared on the steps of the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital with her parents for the first of what will be many royal photo calls.

BEN STANSALL/AFP/GettyYup, that's a baby!

Wrapped in a white shawl, the baby, who weighed 3.7 kilograms at birth, was sound asleep in her mother’s arms, as both of her parents beamed proudly.

The Great Kate Wait, as the British media had dubbed it because the baby was at least one week overdue, ended at 8:34 a.m. Saturday with the birth of a girl who becomes the fourth in the line of succession to the throne.

Kate was only in labour for two hours, unlike in 2013 when she was spent 11 hours giving birth to Prince George in the same maternity wing. Her daughter is the first princess in the direct line of succession since Queen Elizabeth gave birth 64 years ago to Princess Anne.

Prince George, who is 20 months old, visited briefly during the afternoon with his sister — who becomes the spare to the heir — before returning to the family home at Kensington Palace. Wearing a cardigan and proper schoolboy shorts on what was a blustery, chilly day, George entered the hospital in the arms of his father to meet his sister for the first time.

The toddler looked slightly bewildered at the huge gathering of media and wellwishers that had gathered there.

AP Photo/Alastair GrantPrince George's first public appearance in many months.

But George still had the presence of mind to give the crowd his first royal wave during what was his first public appearance in 17 months. It is in keeping with his parents intention to do everything they could to keep him out of the public glare that enveloped William and his brother, Prince Harry, during their childhood.

Unlike when George was born, William disappointed the media by saying nothing when he and his wife emerged from St. Mary’s with their new daughter.

With William at the wheel of a black Range Rover, he, Kate and the princess drove away to Kensington Palace. They are expected to stay there for several days before departing for their country home on the 8,000 hectare Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

The future monarch still has a week of paternity leave left to spend with his wife and growing family before he resumes training to become a helicopter ambulance pilot.

The princess’s names will likely not be revealed until after she meets Queen Elizabeth. That may happen as soon as Sunday.

Looking immensely happy and content and wearing a bright pink ensemble that may have been her way of celebrating the birth of her great-granddaughter, the sovereign, spent Saturday at a military ceremony in Yorkshire before flying back to London late in the day.

It has been widely reported that as with George, Will and Kate had asked not to be told in advance the sex of their daughter. Because of a change in the laws of royal primogeniture in Britain and Canada, the baby girl will for the first time be placed ahead of any other male siblings other than George.

The Duchess of Cambridge, “was safely delivered of a daughter” was how Kensington Palace announced the birth on Twitter and in an official proclamation on an easel in front of Buckingham Palace.

“It is always worth waiting for,” said Terry Hutt, an octogenarian who has shown up at almost every royal event for decades. “It’s wonderful that [the baby] is a girl. That means there will be even more royal babies in the future. The present group of royals is getting old and so am I. We all need to be refreshed.”

Steve Parsons/Pool/APAn easel is placed in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in London to announce the birth of the royal baby, Saturday, May 2, 2015.

The birth of Will and Kate’s second child attracted far less of a media circus than the hullabaloo that surrounded the George’s arrival, when hundreds of journalists from around the world kept a constant vigil outside St. Mary’s for several weeks.

At the request of Will and Kate, who did not want a repeat of that tawdry show, police refused to let journalists and cameramen gather this time outside the hospital until the duchess had gone into labour. So, against the expectation of the huge royal press corps — many of whom spent long days and nights sitting in cars in sidestreets near the hospital — it appears that not one of the posse of royal photographers captured the arrival of Kate at the hospital.

However, within minutes of the announcement that Kate was in labour, hundreds of media began to pour into the narrow side street in front of the Lindo Wing to report on the next child of the most watched couple in the world. The media mob shared the pavement with the usual crush of jovial royal loyalists in the requisite Union Jack outfits, as well as scores of curious tourists and passersby heading into the hospital.

AP Photo/Tim IrelandCrowds gather as Tony Appleton, a town crier, announces to the assembled media the birth of the royal baby.

Despite the media restrictions, there has been massive speculation about the impending birth and what it might mean for Prince George, who has rarely been seen in public since his birth. One of the more curious stories was how, according to managers of Britain’s ubiquitous betting houses, the odds on what second born’s name would be changed hugely in favour of Charlotte this week, as the bettors’ early favourite, Alice, fell back sharply. But Alice was once again the most popular name among those placing bets by Friday with Charlotte a close second.

Will’s father, and Queen Elizabeth’s heir, Prince Charles, said earlier this week that he was hoping for a granddaughter.

BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Town crier Tony Appleton, who holds no official role, announces the birth of the royal baby. He similarly ambushed proceedings after the birth of Prince George in 2013, but he looks so happy doing it, so who's going to stop him?

Although no official due date was ever announced, professional royal observers had insisted for months that the baby was expected sometime between April 23 and April 25. As those days fell away with no news, media coverage soared.

Britons were told that Kate was trying to naturally induce labour by going swimming. There were also a spate of learned articles about the advantages and disadvantages of doctors and midwives inducing labour and how doctors would not allow her to go more than two weeks past her due date, whenever that actually is or was.

With the birth, Will’s brother, Harry, who returned to Australia from London on an army secondment on Tuesday, is pushed down to fifth in the line of succession to the throne. Charles’s brother, Prince Andrew, drops from fifth to sixth.

It has been widely noted by the British media that Andrew’s daughter, Princess Beatrice of York, who had been the first female in the line of succession would move to the seventh in the succession chart and no longer be required to ask the Queen’s permission to marry.

He also spoke for the first time about the couple’s plans for the future, confirming that he would be leaving RAF Valley next month when “we have to move elsewhere.”

The Duke was visiting the Anglesey Show, a two-day agricultural event close to the rented farmhouse where he and the Duchess have lived for the past three years.

Speaking to Max and Maxine Davies, from Victor Harbour, near Adelaide, South Australia, he said: “George is doing well, thank you. We are all very hopeful of coming to Australia next year.”

Mr and Mrs Davies, aged 77 and 75 respectively, said they were thrilled at the news.

“We are on holiday here and can’t believe we got to talk to him,” said Mrs Davies. “How wonderful that the family will come to Australia to visit.”

Chris Jackson / Getty ImagesWilliam greets visitors at the show

The Prince and Princess of Wales broke with tradition in 1983 by taking the baby Prince William with them to Australia on their first royal tour after their marriage. Although there has been widespread speculation that the Duke and Duchess might follow suit, it is the first time the Duke has admitted plans are under way.

Caroline Roberts, from Anglesey, also asked the Duke about the baby, and said: “He said he was fine but had his moments.”

In a speech to the crowd, which he began in Welsh, he said: “Thank you, people of Anglesey. It is a great pleasure to be here. I am so proud to have lived on Anglesey, the Mother of Wales. I have even learnt a little Welsh.

“My Welsh pronunciation is bad but it is slowly getting better, I hope.

“Catherine is sorry that she cannot be here today at the County Show, but she and George would have loved to have been here. He’s pretty loud but, of course, very good looking.

“I have to say that I thought search and rescue duties over Snowdonia were physically and mentally demanding, but looking after a three-week-old baby is up there.

“I know that I speak for Catherine when I say that I have never in my life known somewhere as beautiful and as welcoming as Anglesey.

“The views across the Menai Straits are undoubtedly among the most stunning in the British Isles. I know that both of us will miss it terribly when my search and rescue tour of duty comes to an end next month and we have to move elsewhere.

“This island has been our first home together, and it will always be an immensely special place for us both. Catherine and I look forward to returning again and again over the coming years with our family.”

Andrew Yates - WPA Pool/Getty ImagesThe prince greets the crowd

A royal spokesman said the Duke had not been having formal lessons in Welsh, but his Welsh-speaking friends helped him. His reference to Anglesey as the Mother of Wales came from the Middle Ages, when it was thought that the island’s fields could feed the nation.

As he toured the show the Duke spoke to Joan Roberts, 70, from Carmel, North Wales, about his new duties as a father.

She said: “He told me that he hopes [George] will sleep through the night soon. It was the first time I have met him. It was really lovely.”

Later, the Duke judged a cattle show. An announcement on his future career will be made in the next month, before his tour of duty at RAF Valley finishes in the middle of September.

The Daily Telegraph

Andrew Yates - WPA Pool/Getty ImagesMoo, I say

Lindsey Parnaby / AFP / Getty ImagesNice horsie.

Chris Jackson / Getty ImagesPrince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, depart The Lindo Wing with their newborn son at St Mary's Hospital on July 23, 2013 in London, England

Stefan Rousseau / Getty Images Westminster City Council registrar Alison Cathcart holds a copy of the birth register for Prince George of Cambridge, which was signed by his father, the Duke of Cambridge this morning, witnessed by a Registrar from Westminster Register Office on August 2, 2013 at Kensington Palace, London, England.

LONDON — With four official titles to choose from, the question of how to describe her occupation on her son’s birth certificate was rather more taxing for the Duchess of Cambridge than it is for the rest of us.

In the end, she opted for “Princess of the United Kingdom” as her job description when the Duke of Cambridge formally registered Prince George’s birth Friday.

Although she has never used the name, the Duchess is entitled to refer to herself as Princess William of Wales, as well as being Countess of Strathearn and Lady Carrickfergus.

The Duke, perhaps to show solidarity with his wife, described his own occupation as Prince of the United Kingdom, though he could have described himself as an RAF helicopter pilot, which is his day job.

The Duke, who signed the register as “William”, was given a standard birth certificate, familiar to anyone born in the UK, but the manner in which he obtained it was anything but ordinary.

Instead of going to his local register office, he was visited at Kensington Palace by Alison Cathcart, deputy registrar for Westminster, whose previous duties have included conducting the weddings of Joan Collins, Barbara Windsor and David Walliams.

She described the task as “a great pleasure”, which cemented the borough’s association with royal births, as Westminster also holds the birth records of the Queen, the Prince of Wales and Princes William and Harry, among others.

The royal baby was named as His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge, with the “usual address” given as Kensington Palace.

The Duchess was not present for the registration, instead staying at her parents’ home in Berkshire, where she has been since the day after she left hospital.

The Duke will return to work at RAF Valley on Anglesey next week after his paternity leave ends, but Saturday he will be in action alongside Prince Harry when they play polo at Coworth Park in Ascot.

Friday Prince Harry joked that the birth of Prince George means the “pressure’s off” him to settle down and have children.

AP A copy of the birth registry.

He said his father was “over the moon” to have become a grandfather and hinted that he might stay single for some time.

Prince Harry, 28, made the comments as he spoke to Royal Marines and their families on a visit to the Devonport naval base in Plymouth.

After unveiling a plaque to open a $47 million training centre, the Prince spoke to Tasha Reilly, 35, who was accompanying Lt Col Tristan Harris.

She said: “Harry was very down to earth. He said his father was over the moon to be a grandfather. I said, ’No pressure’. He said, ’No, now he’s got one he’ll be fine. Pressure’s off’.”

The new base, Royal Marines Tamar, is home to 1 Assault Group Royal Marines, which oversees amphibious warfare and Royal Navy board search and training.

Wearing his Household Cavalry service dress uniform with his light blue Army Air Corps beret, the Prince reviewed a parade before taking the salute.

He then joined Marie Francis, 68, to cut the ribbon on the training block, dedicated to her husband, Colour Sergeant Michael James Francis, who was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for bravery in the Falklands conflict.

Colour Sgt Francis, who suffers from MS, could not attend the ceremony, but the Prince spoke of the “amazing” accomplishments of the veteran, who was a coxswain on a landing craft when enemy aircraft bombed RFA Sir Galahad. He ferried more than 100 survivors, some seriously wounded, to safety.

He woke up to only the second new day of his life, but already it was time for another moment of history for Prince George of Cambridge.

FileKate, Duchess of Cambridge holds the Prince of Cambridge, Tuesday July 23, 2013, as they pose for photographers outside St. Mary's Hospital exclusive Lindo Wing in London where the Duchess gave birth on Monday July 22.

After being fed, dressed and changed at his parents’ cottage inside Kensington Palace, he was handed to his first visitor of the day, Her Majesty The Queen.

It was the first time in almost 120 years that a reigning sovereign had cradled a direct heir three generations younger than her. The monarchy, literally and metaphorically, was in safe hands.

No official photograph was released to record the moment, though the Duchess of Cambridge, who is a keen amateur photographer, may have taken some pictures for the world’s most exclusive family album which presumably already has a rare photograph of three heirs to the throne together following the Prince of Wales’s visit to the hospital on Tuesday.

Just an hour and a half later Prince George was taken on his first family outing, making a trip to Berkshire to see his grandparents Carole and Michael Middleton.

It is expected that the Duchess and her son will spend the next three weeks in her parents’ village of Bucklebury, proving correct suggestions that Mrs Middleton was destined to play a large role in her grandson’s life, unlike previous in-laws to the Royal family.

The Duke and Duchess are believed to have their own room in the large manor house and are said to favour staying there, with her parents, rather than Kensington Palace, where building work is taking place at the couple’s new home.

But before visiting his grandmother, there was the small matter of being introduced to his great-grandmother.

The Queen made the short journey from Buckingham Palace to Kensington Palace at around 11am, arriving in a dark green Bentley at Nottingham Cottage, the Cambridges’ temporary home until refurbishment work is completed on the larger Apartment 1A.

The Queen had told guests at a reception the night before that she was “thrilled” by the baby’s arrival, saying that at 8lbs 6oz he was an “enormous child”.

As ever, she had put duty first by attending a reception for winners of a business award, rather than heading to St Mary’s Hospital to see Prince George, meaning she did not see him for 43 hours after he was born.

She may, however, have had the consolation of being the first to be told his name. The Duke and Duchess had decided they wanted to spend some time with their son before making a final decision on the matter, and the Duke said he and the Duchess were “working on” the name even as they left hospital on Tuesday.

The Queen would certainly have approved of their choice, inspired by her father, George VI. But after just half an hour with the future king, duty called once again as she headed off for her weekly meeting with the Prime Minister.

AFP PHOTO / POOL / John StillwellJOHN STILLWELL/AFP/Getty ImagesThe safe hands of the Duchess of Cambridge hold her son outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London on July 23, 2013. The baby was born on Monday afternoon weighing eight pounds six ounces (3.8 kilogrammes).

By the time the Queen met Prince George, he had already been introduced to his uncles and aunt. Pippa and James Middleton had been waiting at Kensington Palace when he was brought home from hospital on Tuesday, and Prince Harry, who had come off shift at Wattisham airfield in Suffolk, dropped by to meet his new nephew shortly afterwards.

Life as a member of the Royal family tends to be lived in perpetual motion, and Prince George appears to be no exception to that rule.

Just 90 minutes after the Queen had left, Prince George was strapped into his car seat ready to be taken to Bucklebury, where he is expected to spend the next three weeks with his parents and maternal grandparents. Although he will have been oblivious to it, he also got his first sight of the sort of security that will surround him for his entire life.

As well as the armed police patrols and royal bodyguards at the Middleton family home whenever the Duchess visits, Thames Valley Police had sent up a helicopter and dispatched officers on horseback to patrol the perimeter of the 18-acre property.

The Duke of Cambridge has two weeks’ statutory paternity leave, meaning he will have to go back to work with his search and rescue squadron at RAF Valley in Wales on Aug 6, though parking restrictions imposed on the country lane outside the Middleton residence suggested the Duchess intends to stay there for three weeks.

Some things, however, remain the same for royal babies and commoners alike. The couple must register their son’s birth in the next 42 days and the Duchess will be offered home visits by a local midwife for her son until he is 28 days old.

His progress will be entered into the same red-covered personal child health record book that is given to every baby, and for the next five years the Duchess will be offered help from her local health visitor.

LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty ImagesPrince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge show their new-born baby boy to the world's media outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London on July 23, 2013.

AP Photo/Toby Melville/PoolKate Duchess of Cambridge, left, speaks with guests at a Garden Party hosted by Queen Elizabeth II in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, central London on May 22, 2013.

It was a day which ended as unexpectedly as it had begun.

Having given the world’s media the slip when they arrived at St. Mary’s Hospital shortly after 5.30am local time, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge kept the birth of their baby boy a secret for more than four hours before making an announcement by email just before 8.30pm last night. Instead of the “theatre” of an official bulletin being driven from the hospital’s private Lindo Wing to Buckingham Palace, to be placed on an easel for the waiting world to see, Kensington Palace changed the plan at the last minute.

Moments before a Jaguar pulled up outside the hospital to take the all-important piece of paper across London, the Palace emailed journalists and newsdesks to announce that the Duchess had given birth to an 8lb 6oz son. It was one more piece of stage management after a week in which the Duke and Duchess had managed to remain in complete control of the way their historic news was reported.

Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesMembers of the world's media gather outside The Lindo Wing as they wait for news of the birth of the first child of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge outside The Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital on July 22, 2013 in London, England.

The world’s media had been camped outside St Mary’s for weeks in the hope of being first with the news of her hospital admission, but when the Duke and Duchess finally arrived at St Mary’s Hospital early yesterday morning, the only person who caught sight of them was Jesal Parshotam, a freelance photographer. And by the time he realised which entrance they were heading for, they were already inside.

He had the consolation of being the first to publish the news, which came, with a certain inevitability, via Twitter, when he sent a tweet at 5.55am saying: “Kate Middleton has gone into hospital.”

His tweet was treated with scepticism by newspapers and broadcasters who had already seen one too many false dawns. They began calling Kensington Palace, who stonewalled for more than half an hour until the Duchess had been seen by her medical team and was “settled” in her private room at the Lindo Wing.

Only then, at 7.28am, did the Palace issue official confirmation that the Duchess was in labour and had been admitted. In truth, aside from one little-noticed tweet, the final weeks and days of the Duchess’s pregnancy had been a master class in stage management, during which the media did not once manage to photograph her or second-guess her plans.

The Duchess, 31, chose to spend almost all of last week with her parents at their Georgian manor house in Bucklebury, Berks, where she was joined last Monday by her husband.

AP Photo/Andrew MatthewsBritain's Prince William stands next to his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge as she leaves the King Edward VII hospital in central London, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012.

The house, which the Middletons bought for £4.7-million last year, is down a quiet country lane, with tall hedges protecting its gardens from prying eyes, and has 18 acres of land.

In the middle of the afternoon on Friday, which was, according to one source, the Duchess’s due date, she and the Duke slipped out of Bucklebury, unnoticed by locals or the handful of freelance photographers keeping an eye on the surrounding lanes, and returned to their London home at Kensington Palace. The Palace, where extensive renovations are still being carried out to the large apartment which will become the couple’s new family home, is less than five minutes’ drive from St Mary’s.

It meant the Duchess could now be certain that her baby would be born in the Lindo Wing, rather than at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, which was “plan B”.

The first sign that a birth might be imminent came at 10pm on Sunday night, when royalty protection officers drove around the entrances of St Mary’s in a “dummy run” witnessed by photographers and TV crews.

But shortly after 5.30am came the real thing. Once again, the Duke and Duchess’s staff had thought out every detail, and chose a dark blue Ford Galaxy people carrier to drive the Duchess to the hospital, rather than the Range Rovers, Land Rover Discoveries and Jaguars they normally use.

An ageing Saab 95 was used as the police back-up car to further confuse anyone watching out for a motorcade of “royal” cars, and the couple were taken to a rear entrance of the Mary Stanford wing at St Mary’s, which joins onto the Lindo Wing. They were spotted by Mr Parshotam, but he was not quick enough to get to the entrance before the Duke and Duchess were inside the hospital, meaning none of the photographers who had been staking out the building since the start of July managed to get a picture of the Duchess arriving.

Diana, Princess of Wales, used the same entrance when she was admitted to the Lindo Wing to give birth to Prince William in 1982.

With no pictures of the Duchess to sell, Mr Parshotam used Twitter to make a virtue of his sighting of the couple.

His 5.55am tweet was followed seconds later by his colleague Darren Sacks, with whom he had shared the news, who tweeted the rather less restrained: “World Exclusive Duchess of Cambridge is in labour!!!”

OHN STILLWELL/AFP/Getty ImagesThe waiting crowds cheer on July 22, 2013, as the Queen's Press Secretary Ailsa Anderson with Badar Azim a footman place on an easel a notification announcing the birth of a baby boy, at 4.24pm to Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, at St Mary's Hospital. Prince William's wife Kate on Monday gave birth to a baby boy who will one day be heir to the British throne, Kensington Palace said in a statement.

Luckily for Kensington Palace, the tweets were treated with a pinch of salt by the mainstream media, which had endured false alarms on an almost daily basis for weeks on end.

Mr Parshotam, 24, said he and his friend Mr Sacks, 30, had been at the hospital since 8pm the previous night.

He said: “We were just standing outside chilling and talking and then it all happened. The cars showed up. They were very, very simple cars – it was very discreet … the protection officers jumped out and they all rushed in. It was a very swift manoeuvre. The Duchess went in and the cars were gone very quickly – within a minute. That was it.” When the Duchess’s staff began receiving phone calls asking if the tweets were correct, they merely batted away questions by saying, as they had done on previous occasions, that they “wouldn’t comment on speculation”.

AP Photo/ Doug Peters, PAThe London Eye observation wheel on the banks of the river Thames celebrates the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's son by lighting up in the national colors of red, white and blue, Monday July 22, 2013.

One Palace insider said: “It was important to us that the couple were inside the hospital, that the Duchess was settled and that she had been seen by medical staff before we confirmed anything.”

The waiting photographers had also missed another sign that the Duchess was about to give birth: Marcus Setchell, the Queen’s former gynaecologist and the man chosen to supervise the birth, had arrived at the hospital shortly after the Duchess, having been woken at his home in north London to be told he was needed. Following the 7.28am update, there was nothing more from the Palace for the next 13 hours.

Unknown to the journalists and hundreds of well-wishers waiting in the 31C heat outside, the Duchess had given birth at 4.24pm. But the first indication that the news might be imminent was when Kensington Palace announced at 7.58pm the change to the way the baby’s arrival would be announced.

That put the media on alert, and half an hour later it was official: Britain had a new king-in-waiting.

Heavy gunfire killed 20 people in Syria’s besieged city of Homs on Monday as newly arriving Arab League observers were urged to head immediately to one of the country’s worst hot spotsDAMASCUS - Heavy gunfire killed 20 people in Syria’s besieged city of Homs on Monday as newly arriving Arab League observers were urged to head immediately to one of the country’s most serious hot spots.
An initial group of 50 observers was to land in Syria later Monday to oversee a deal aimed at ending a bloody crackdown on anti-regime dissent, which has showed no signs of abating since erupting in March.
“Rocket fire and heavy machineguns in the Baba Amro quarter killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens,” the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received by <em>AFP</em> in Nicosia.
<!--more-->“The situation is frightening and the shelling is the most intense of the past three days,” it said.
Six civilians died in other parts of the central Syrian city, while another three, including a 14-year-old boy, were shot dead when security forces opened fire on a demonstration in Khattab in neighbouring Hama province.
[np-related]
On Sunday, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said Homs was under siege and facing an “invasion” from some 4,000 troops deployed near the city that has become a focal point of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
“The observers must head immediately to the martyrs’ district of Baba Amro to stop the assassinations and meet with the Syrian people so that they witness the crimes being perpetrated by the Syrian regime” the Observatory said on Monday.
That demand was echoed by France.
“The Damascus authorities must imperatively, in accordance with the Arab League plan, allow observers access this afternoon to the city of Homs, where the violence is particularly bloody,” foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi said the observer “mission has freedom of movement in line with the protocol” Syria signed with the Arab League last week.
Under that deal, the observers are to be banned only from sensitive military installations.
Ironically, the Observatory said the authorities had changed road signs in another hot spot, Idlib province, to confuse the observers, and urged them to make contact with human rights activists on the ground.
An advance team of Arab monitors arrived on Thursday to pave the way for the observer mission to oversee the deal aimed at ending the crackdown, which the UN estimates has killed more than 5,000 people since March.
Opposition groups have said the observers must stop their work if they are blocked by the authorities from travelling to places like Homs.
“We hold the Arab League and the international community accountable for the massacres and bloodshed committed by the regime in Syria,” the SNC said.
General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, a veteran Sudanese military intelligence officer who is heading the observer mission, arrived in Damascus on Sunday evening, a source told AFP.
In a meeting with AFP in Khartoum last week, the 63-year-old Dabi distributed a curriculum vitae that outlined a hardcore military background, including three years as chief of military operations against the insurgency in what is now South Sudan.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said he expects the observers to vindicate his government’s contention that the violence is the work of “armed terrorists.”
Western governments and rights watchdogs blame Assad’s regime for the bloodshed.
Opposition leaders charge that Syria agreed to the mission after weeks of prevarication in a “ploy” to head off a threat by the 22-member League to go to the UN Security Council over the crackdown.
Muallem met the advance team of Arab League officials on Saturday, in talks his spokesman called “positive.”
The observers will eventually number between 150 and 200, Arab League officials say.
The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.
But since signing the agreement, the Assad regime has been accused of intensifying its crackdown.
The SNC and rights activists have charged that the government was behind twin suicide bombings in Damascus on Friday that killed 44 people.
Assad’s regime blamed the attacks on “terrorist organisations,” including Al-Qaeda, although it has not said how it reached the conclusion.
The SNC said “the Syrian regime, alone, bears all the direct responsibility for the two terrorist explosions.”
It said the government was trying to create the impression “that it faces danger coming from abroad and not a popular revolution demanding freedom and dignity.”
Violence continued through the weekend, with security forces pounding Baba Amr with mortar and heavy machinegun fire on Sunday, killing an undetermined number of people and wounding 124, the Observatory said.
The plight of Syrians was a focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s Christmas Day prayers.
“May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts... May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed,” the pontiff told pilgrims in Vatican City.

The exquisite wait for the royal baby which the British media first claimed was due around July 13 may soon be over.

Part of this calculation is based on simple arithmetic. Babies seldom emerge more than 42 weeks after conception. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, had morning sickness in early December. She was thought to be between eight and 10 weeks pregnant at that time. Ergo, the arrival of a new third in the line of succession — bumping Prince Harry — cannot be more than a few days away now.

Well, anyway, that’s one line of reasoning.

However, there are other good reasons to think that the birth of Prince William’s firstborn is imminent. Kate and Will reportedly left her sanctuary in Berkshire for London on Friday. Ensconced in their modest temporary flat at Kensington Palace, the couple are only 10 minutes away by car from St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington.

Handout/KCNA/ReutersJong-Un has been named head of North Korea's ruling party's Central Committee.

Even more telling, perhaps, was that until a few days ago only a couple of “bobbies” stood beside the media horde across the street from the entrance to St. Mary’s Lindo Wing. But that number has swelled dramatically since then.

On Sunday an inspector handed out marching orders to a dozen or more uniformed constables. They now patrol within a stone’s throw of a door that is being watched 24 hours a day by two web cameras that belong to a highbrow and a lowbrow newspaper. As well as a glitzy mobile police command set up in a trailer surrounded by satellite dishes, several police vans filled with bored coppers are now usually parked in the hospital’s back alleys.

Terry Hutt, who showed up at the hospital two weeks ago dressed in the Union Jack, was still there and still similarly clad on Sunday. But the 78-year-old super-monarchist — who has long been a fixture at royal gatherings — has become a bit tetchy now that he has been joined by several much younger royal fans wearing exactly the same red, white and blue outfits.

AP Photo/Kirsty WigglesworthRoyal supporter Margaret Tyler displays balloons for the media in front of the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in London.

Every time he’s asked, and he’s been asked a lot, Terry told the international media that he was sure the baby would arrive tomorrow. But even he shyly admitted that his daily predictions have begun to wear a bit thin.

Another sign that “Waity Katy” may finally give birth soon was that the British newspapers have just about run out of colour features to run. The most interesting royal story on Sunday wasn’t even about the royal baby. It was that Prince Harry may return to Afghanistan for a third and last army tour next spring. An Apache attack helicopter pilot, he has recently passed the tests to be a crew commander.

The Sunday Times had a scholarly piece on primogeniture and Britain’s Succession to the Crown Act, which for the first time permits a first-born daughter to become Queen even if a son is born later. A dozen Commonwealth countries have not passed such laws themselves, meaning that theoretically, different countries could end up with different sovereigns.

Handout/ReutersSmoke rises from Deir Balaba near Homs, Dec. 23, 2011.

Canada was one of three countries that had adopted the change, the Times said. But Ottawa was faulted because its decision simply gave assent to the British law, rather than having passed a law of its own.

Otherwise, the royal baby news Sunday was more of the same. Not for the first time, Britons were told that the infant will divide his or her time between a lavish 21-room apartment at Kensington Palace, which is now being refurbished, or at Amner Hall on Queen Elizabeth’s 20,000 acre Sandringham Estate.

Oddsmakers have made a small fortune off bets that the baby would be born no later than early last week. The hot money has now shifted to Tuesday, or later, because it is said that Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton, has said she thinks the baby will be a Leo, not a Cancerian.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Sandra Oh will be leaving the cast of Grey's Anatomy after its upcoming 10th season.

For those pitying the journalists and photographers camped out in unusually warm weather across from the Lindo Wing producing such insights, spare the tears. The royal baby watch is tedious and lends itself to exaggeration. But it is infinitely more pleasant than being assigned to cover riots in Egypt or wars in Syria and Afghanistan.

While Terry Hutt and a few other extreme royalists actually have been sleeping in the street, the hacks almost all work in eight or 10-hour shifts.

The hospital has offered free access to its spotless toilets to everyone including the growing number of tourists who have been keen to have their photos taken at the Lindo’s front door. That is where Kate and Will are expected to first show their tiny prince or princess to the world before heading home to Kensington.

Prince William and his new wife Catherine laughed and smiled as they mingled with celebrity guests at their first official engagement in the gardens of Kensington Palace Thursday.

Wearing a shimmering, dusty-pink cap-sleeve gown by Jenny Packham, the new Duchess of Cambridge and her husband were guests of honour at a lavish gala dinner hosted by financier Arpad Busson for his children’s charity ARK.

Mr. Busson welcomed the couple as they arrived to join other supporters like artists Tracey Emin and Anish Kapoor and actor Kevin Spacey, who had all paid £10,000-a-head (about $19,000) to attend the banquet in the heart of London.

William, in a black dinner jacket and bow-tie, and Catherine, wearing her hair down and looking relaxed, were attending on behalf of the charitable foundation of the prince and his younger brother Harry.

The dinner was held in an enormous purpose-made marquee built on the grounds of Kensington Palace, once home to William’s mother Diana.

Before dinner, the guests were entertained by a troupe of divers who leaped off boards into a specially constructed pool nearby.

On June 30, William and Catherine will embark on their first overseas tour as a married couple, beginning in Canada and ending with a trip to California.

Agence France-Presse

Reuters / Toby Melville

AFP Photo / Adrian Dennis

Chris Jackson / Getty Images

Chris Jackson / Getty Images

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/photos-the-duke-and-duchess-of-cambridge-aka-william-and-kate-make-their-first-official-royal-engagement/feed0stdBritain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William (2ndL) and Catherine (2ndR) pose for a photograph alongside Arpad Busson (L), Founding Chairman of ARK and Ian Wace (R), current Chairman of ARKWilliam and KateKate and WilliamKate and WilliamKate and WilliamWilliam, Kate to make Kensington Palace London residencehttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/william-kate-to-make-kensington-palace-london-residence
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/william-kate-to-make-kensington-palace-london-residence#commentsMon, 06 Jun 2011 15:06:56 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=69146

LONDON — Prince William and new bride Catherine will within the coming months move into Kensington Palace, the London residence once shared by the prince and his late mother Diana, St. James’s Palace said Sunday.

The newly-titled Duke of Cambridge and his brother Prince Harry lived in the palace after Diana and Prince Charles divorced in 1996, but the newlywed couple will move into a different property within the grounds.

A spokesman from St James’s Palace said: “We can confirm that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official London residence will temporarily become a property at Kensington Palace.

“A number of options for longer term solutions are still being considered.

“The couple’s main home will continue to be their house on Anglesey, and their Household Office will continue to be based at St James’s Palace,” he added.

The duke and duchess currently live on the north Wales island of Anglesey, where the prince works as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot.

William, 28, is second in line to the throne for the 16 Commonwealth realms, including Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The menu for the royal wedding sit down dinner and wedding breakfast will not be revealed until the day itself, but there are certain things that can be predicted by looking back at past royal wedding menus, examining British wedding traditions and talking to royal chefs.

Below, what we know about the food and drinks for April 29th’s big day — and what other royals have been served.

The menu will be in French

In contrast to the very English day, the menu will almost certainly be en français.

This has been the case at all past royal weddings and fancy royal functions; there is never any translation on the menu, even for foreign politicians.

(The Queen, of course, is fluent in French.)

A dish will probably be named after Kate Middleton.

At a British royal wedding it is a common practice for the chef name a dish after the new bride, Chef Darren McGrady tells epicurious.com. (Mr. McGrady worked at Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace as the private chef to the late Princess Diana.)

What dish took Diana’s name at her wedding reception? Suprême de Volaille Princesse de Galle — basically, a chicken breast stuffed with lamb mousse, wrapped in brioche, and garnished with asparagus tips and Madeira sauce. She loved poultry, said Chef McGrady.

He said Kate’s dish will probably be revealed at the evening, sit down meal— not at the first reception known as the wedding breakfast, which will be served buffet style.

Take a look at the royal wedding menus from the past (below) and see some other specially named dishes:

Around 600 guests will assemble at Buckingham palace for the wedding breakfast after Will and Kate share a traditional kiss from the balcony of Buckingham palace.

In a break with the sit-down wedding breakfast traditional at royal weddings, the meal will be served buffet style.

But, “… don’t expect French toast and eggs:” says Chef Darren McGrady to epicurious.com.“It will likely resemble an afternoon cocktail party, with butlers passing appetizers and canapés…It’s where you’ll see the Archbishop of Canterbury and heads of state milling about,” says Mr. McGrady. “Given the guest list, it’s a great way to socialize and make everyone feel important, since you don’t have that top table and then some people pushed to the back of the room,” says Mr. McGrady.
For the food, Mr. McGrady is guessing “substantial canapés” will be served, such as smoked trout with cream cheese crêpes, English sausage rolls, mini croque monsieurs, and smoked salmon tartlets.
“Chefs are preparing 10,00 canapes for the lunchtime reception after the ceremony and a special beer is going to be brewed just for the occasion,” reports CelebrityCafe.com.”There will be 21 chefs preparing around 18 varieties of different temperatures and flavors, all of which have been approved by the royal couple.”

As for dessert, it was revealed the the couple will have both a traditional fruit cake ordered from famous patissière Fiona Cairns, who counts ex-Beatle Paul McCartney as a customer. At the request of Kate Middleton, the cake will be adorned by 16 flowers symbolizing, among other things, happiness (rose), tenderness (lily) and marriage (ivy).

The cake will be revealed at the reception, which will take place in in Buckingham Palace’s majestic “Picture Gallery,” under the gaze of Rembrandt, Poussin and Rubens paintings.

Next to the wedding cake will be a more humble chocolate cake favoured by Prince William, made using the supermarket staple McVitie’s tea biscuits.

Of course, there’s always beer

Looking to celebrate Britain’s royal wedding with a pint or two? You can indulge in a brew created for the occasion in the shadow of one of the royal family’s most famous residences.

The newly established Windsor and Eton Brewery is taking advantage of the town’s royal connections to produce “Windsor Knot,” a beer dedicated to Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton who will marry on April 29th.

Windsor was once a traditional brewing town, and a hundred years ago there were at least half a dozen breweries making beer to be shipped to London and elsewhere. However, the last brewery stopped production around 1931 and the tradition died out until Windsor and Eton launched last year.

Master brewer Paddy Johnson told Reuters that he wanted to produce an ale which would have broad appeal and be suited to the barbecues and street parties across the nation on the day.

“So we tried to design a beer that’s light in flavor and color, so that it will appeal to a lot of people, but has also got a very memorable flavor to it,” he said.

Windsor Knot is an ale made with a combination of hops from England and New Zealand, which the brewery said represents the far ends of the Commonwealth.

There will be a plethora of other beers, ales, stouts and bitters produced for the royal wedding, which brewers hope will help showcase what is a very English refreshment.

Prince Charles says “no” to Foie gras at the evening dinner

Prince Charles will be hosting and paying for the more intimate evening reception dinner.

Many sources predict the menu will feature seasonal spring ingredients such as lamb, leeks, and cabbage from Highgrove, the Prince’s organic farm and homestead in Gloucestershire.

“One thing that will almost certainly be left off the lineup: foie gras,” says epicurious.com. “… the Prince of Wales banned from all royal menus in 2008, due to his distaste for the way it is produced,” they say.

“I think they’ll have as the first course some sort of salad with a terrine,” said Darren McGrady told AFP (the personal chef to Princess Diana). “I know that one of the most popular is the Gleneagles pâté, which is like a terrine of smoked trout, smoked salmon and smoked mackerel pate”, explained Mr. McGrady.”For the entree, I would see Gaelic steaks, tenderloin steaks in a whisky mushroom sauce, or an organic lamb from Highgrove.”

When the royal couple returns home from their honeymoon they will temporarily take up residence at a suite of rooms in Clarence House in London, reports the Telegraph. This means William and Kate will be sharing a home with Prince Harry as one big happy family when they are both in the city.

Yui Mok / PA PhotoA guard on duty outside Clarence House in London, residence of the late Queen Mother. The Prince of Wales is expected to move to Clarence House with Kate Middleton and Harry after the royal couple return from their honeymoon.

The princes often will have obligations that take them away from London, so sources say it shouldn’t be a inconvenience for either the newlyweds or prince Harry; Wills spends much time in North Wales where he is stationed with the RAF and Harry works with the Army Air Corps.

Paul / AFP / Getty imagesBritain's Princes William (L) and Harry are pictured during a photocall at RAF (Royal Air Force). William is training to become an RAF search and rescue pilot while his younger brother Harry is aiming to become a pilot with Britain's Army Air Corps.

A royal source said to the Telegraph: “Harry is away with the Army Air Corps most of the week, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem co-ordinating their diaries. The rooms aren’t particularly fancy but Catherine is used to them. She gets on brilliantly with Harry so it shouldn’t be too much of a hardship.”

David Parker/ Reuters / PoolBritain's Prince William (L) and his fiancee Kate Middleton arrive with Prince Harry (R) at the New Zealand High Commission, in central London February 25, 2011.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/will-kate-and-harry-will-play-house-temporarily-at-clarence-house/feed0stdRBS 6 Nations: England v ItalyROYAL Home/ClarenceBRITAIN-ROYALS-MILITARYBritain's Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton arrive with Prince Harry at the New Zealand High Commission, in central London